The general opinion is that she is under the control of her husband and manager, and that that is the person orchestrating all the stuff she does. After doing a ridiculous amount of Googling in Japanese for an article about her I'm supposed to write, I did find out some interesting info. Her coach and cornerman, who may or may not be her husband, is Fumio "Wild" Usami, a 45-year-old ex-Shooto fighter who never really amounted to much (career record: 3-1-1), who owns a gym in Tokyo. She started training with him when she was 19 and he was 38. The organization Rin Nakai is always announced as being from, "Pancrase Venus," does not appear to actually exist (I haven't verified this yet). Additionally she apparently has a base in judo from when she was 3 years old, and was 3rd in the nation in high school. You'd think Pancrase might consider this a thing worth playing up, but nope.

From what I can tell, Nakai was still posting fetish pics on her blog as recently as, well, Monday, so being with the UFC doesn't appear to have freed her from bondage.

Rin Nakai also recently released a short video statement about her signing upcoming fight on the Pancrase channel, saying general stuff like how she was happy to be coming to the UFC, and that she would be fighting Miesha Tate "who is very beautiful, stylish, and fashionable.". This was said in a manner of absolute deference, almost submissively.

It's entirely possible that that prom dress and tiara may have been the least inappropriate thing she had in her wardrobe to wear to the press conference.

it is my understanding that Rin Nakai has had to wear much worse at weigh-ins.

so is this bout actually going to be in America, under the supervision of a real athletic commission and real referees and all that? (or the closest you can get in the UFC anyway.) because it would be odd to see Nakai's handlers give up the ability to stage-manage her fights down to the last detail.

it is my understanding that Rin Nakai has had to wear much worse at weigh-ins.

so is this bout actually going to be in America, under the supervision of a real athletic commission and real referees and all that? (or the closest you can get in the UFC anyway.) because it would be odd to see Nakai's handlers give up the ability to stage-manage her fights down to the last detail.

She's fighting Miesha Tate at the same Saitama Super Arena show where Mark Hunt and Roy Big Country Nelson are being loaded into trebuchets and shot at one another

e: Also because our universe has apparently merged with one of Joe Silva's fever dreams, the UFC is teaming up with the Vale Tudo Japan for an eight-month round robin tournament/reality show where Japan's best young MMA prospects will fight one another for a UFC contract

e2: Sweet Christmas they even dug up KID Yamamoto from under the mountain of cheese fries he's lived in since HERO*S went tits up

Okay, so Nakai/Tate will be fought under the usual Unified Rin Nakai May Not Lose Rules.

A Japanese Ultimate Fighter show is actually a great idea and I'm surprised they didn't do it years ago. Eight months of tiny little Shooto dudes duking it out, I'll watch that every day and twice on Sunday.

KID was such an infamous dickhead that even Enson Inoue couldn't put up with him. (And this is a guy who let Phil Baroni rep his gym.) Maybe age and desperation and crippling injury have mellowed him, I dunno.

edit: on further consideration of that picture, there is something weird seeing an attractive and buff woman wearing what amounts to a Disney princess costume.

Not even a "this is weird because this contradicts and juxtaposes deeply held male-views of femininity" kind of weird, more a "Good lord, she looks like she wants to bash that guy's face in for making her wear this" kind of weird.

FWIW Dana White is probably the only man in Rin Nakai's life who doesn't demand that she spend every waking moment wearing fetish gear

Hers is a tale of woe

e:

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Raider Dr. Jones

Okay, so Nakai/Tate will be fought under the usual Unified Rin Nakai May Not Lose Rules.

The Athletic Commission of Marc Ratner's Scarf will keep everything on the up and up or so we are led to believe *Steve Mazzagatti watches impassively as Rin absorbs north of seventy unanswered punches to the frontal lobes*

I don't want to sound... really dense* but... are you gusy talking about some WWF drama in here or is this actually happening or...

if this is a return to WWF drama i am obviously about to get into mma/ufc/Santa Clause (why are santa die)but if that girl is in some kind of bad situation ... when would you stop watching it?
*really dense/jackass

I don't want to sound... really dense* but... are you gusy talking about some WWF drama in here or is this actually happening or...

if this is a return to WWF drama i am obviously about to get into mma/ufc/Santa Clause (why are santa die)but if that girl is in some kind of bad situation ... when would you stop watching it?
*really dense/jackass

The UFC is combining the stage IV weeabooism of their top two guys and a collection of freakshow fights you usually don't see outside an Indian reservation or breakaway Russian republic

The cool thing is that even while the nostalgia tour is going on, we have stuff like TJ Dillashaw beating Renan Barao in the biggest upset since Douglas/Tyson. I love that we're in a golden age for combat sports right now.